Kangensai Music Festival

Kangensai
Music Festival is a gorgeous show which unfolds atop the
surface of the sea and is the largest ceremony at Itsukushima
Shrine. Every year in August, a fireworks display held from
the waters on the sea in front of Itsukushima Shrine is
the largest such display in Western Japan. A colorfully
decorated fleet of boats makes a sea parade to the accompaniment
of classical court music Gagaku. Three boats are joined
together with decorated curtains over all, and lanterns
are strung between them making a "stage on the water." Many
other decorated boats from other areas near the island come
to cruise about and to see and listen. It is a beautiful
sight. Families and friends cook and eat together on the
boats. At 9 PM as people watch from boats and the shrine's
outside corridors, the boats return to shore; and at midnight
the deity that had been carried on one of the shrine boats
is returned to the shrine. Before ending the festival, the
fleet of boats makes three last circles ar-und the shrine.
A religious tradition is still being passed down on this
revered and worshiped island, where the gods have resided
since time immemorial. Bugaku, or the unique and ancient
musical court dance, is a traditional art that was passed
down by Taira-no Kiyomori. Jin-Noh, or sacred Noh play,
is another theater art which is performed on the Noh stage
that sticks out over the sea.
The Kangensai Music Festival is a gorgeous show which unfolds
atop the surface of the sea and is the largest ceremony
at Itsukushima Shrine. Colorfully decorated boats carrying
orchestras aboard cruise along the coast. It started after
Taira-no Kiyomori introduced Kangen-no Asobi, or an orchestra
festival, which was very popular in Kyoto at that time.

Background History

Kangensai Music Festival of Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima.
Classical court music and dances are performed on the brightly
decorated boats.
First debuted by Tairano Kiyomori, a military commander
of the Heian Era (8th - 12th Century), the Shrine Ritual
is a celebration of music first dedicated on the high seas,
then in shrines.

Kangen is music performed by playing the flute, drums and
Japanese string instruments used in Japanese court music.
In the ancient capital, nobles used to enjoy the graceful
orchestra festival by playing these kangen instruments on
boats floated on ponds and rivers. Approximately 800 years
ago, Taira-no-Kiyomori (1118-1181), the warlord of the latter
years of the Heian Period, constructed Itsukishima-Shrine
and brought the then prevalent customs to this land in order
to hold a ceremony dedicated to the gods. This Shinto ritual,
staged on the Seto Inland Sea, later developed into a graceful
yet dynamic festival reminiscent of the Heian Period when
the culture of the nobility flourished, and is now ranked
among the three finest float festivals in Japan.